How About A Romance?
by B L Roth
Summary: When Kate teases Castle about how simple writing must be, he challenges her to write something for him. She accepts and decides to shadow him for a couple days at the loft.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: How About A Romance?**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Castle, but sadly enough I do not. **

**Summary: When Kate teases Castle about how simple writing must be, he challenges her to write something for him. She accepts and decides to shadow him for a couple days at the loft.**

"You're under arrest, for murder," Kate said after she caught her breath, as she slapped the cuffs on the wrists of her suspect.

He had tried to run away from Ryan and Esposito, who had broken down the door on the front side of the house. She had planned to go in the front with them, but saw the man make a run for it through the window. So she sprinted toward the back of the house, Castle of course trailing behind her.

Little did she know that her suspect was a bit of a ninja, and as she tried to tackle him he flipped right over her. Soon he was standing above her and placed a foot on her torso. Right when he had crouched down to look her in the eye, Castle had knocked the back of his head with a trash can lid that had been laying in the yard.

Their killer fell to the ground and Kate quickly rolled over and pinned him down. She sent Castle a quick smirk and then cuffed the man.

…

They all sat around a table at the Precinct, enjoying a cold one after closing their case. Kate was laughing and enjoying Ryan's version of Castle knocking out the suspect that had her on the ground. Then she looked to Castle sitting next to her.

"You know, Castle. All this research must be finally paying off. You actually did a good job taking down that suspect today," Kate said to him over her drink.

"I resent that," Castle said loud enough for everyone to hear. "I like to think that I always do a good job helping out on _all_ of our cases."

Kate let out a small laugh; she had to tease him just a little bit. "Oh you do. All I'm saying is you actually physically took a guy down without putting yourself in danger this time. The physical stuff takes fast thinking. Being a writer, only releasing one book a year and all –"

"Hey, hey," he cut her off. "I will have you know that being a writer takes some critical thinking, too."

"I'm sure it does. Making stuff up is so hard," she said giving him a smartass glare, while Ryan and Esposito let out oooo's listening to their conversation.

"I'd like to see you try it, then. Maybe you should write something for me," Castle challenged. "Yea! Bring me something next week and the guys and I here can read it. You'll see how hard it is to write something with a deadline and people actually reading your work."

"You know what, you're on!" Kate decided. Little did Castle know she had taken a couple creative writing classes and this would be cake. She got up and stepped a little closer to him, leaning towards him a little farther than she probably should have. "Set your stakes, Rick. How long does this have to be?"

Castle swallowed and stared up at her. This was all too exciting. "Make it five pages. What's today, Thursday? Bring it to me first thing next Thurday, let's see what you've got!"

"No, no, no. I have a better idea," Kate said surprising him yet again. "You get to follow me at my work, it's time to turn the tables. I have the next two days off. How about I shadow you? Why don't you just show me how much critical thinking this writing really takes?"

"Yea okay, I'm game. Be at the loft, at the crack of dawn. Don't be late," he said looking down at her.

After a moment of the two standing a little too close and staring into each other's eyes, Esposito cleared his throat. Kate now noticed how closely they were standing, and she jumped back a bit. She walked over to the door, passing Esposito's smug look without giving it too much thought.

"Well seeing how I have to wake up early tomorrow, I guess that's my cue to go. Goodnight guys."

She passed by her desk to grab her coat on the way to the elevator. She was being a little bit smug herself. Giving Castle hell for the next two days could be fun. She knew exactly what she was doing.

…

"I don't know what I'm doing!" Kate exclaimed into her phone two hours later.

When she got home and took a shower that night, it actually gave her time to think about what was going to happen for the next two days. What had she gotten herself into? Two whole days with Castle at his loft, with him telling her how he writes.

Well, if he actually told her how he writes it could be fascinating. But he would never just sit and go over writing with her for two days. How he ever finishes anything is beyond her, he can't sit still long enough. Then she thought about all the kiddish things he does all the time and smiled to herself. It was cute. Then it hit her how cute she thought he was, and how much could go on being in the loft with him for the next couple of days. Oh shit. What had she gotten herself into?

"Just calm down, girl. It was was your idea in the first place. You know that, right?" Lanie asked her.

"Yea, I know! But I just had two beers at the time and he looked so good. He actually did so great today, he knocked our suspect out – the one that had me pinned – and I just was just teasing him a little bit. Then he was right there challenging me to write something and I had to do it. What am I gonna do now?" Kate was talking way too fast.

"Wait," Lanie said and Kate could hear the smile in her voice. "He looked so good?"

"Lanie be serious! The only thing you heard out of that was that I think he looked good," Kate said, freaking out a little bit. "I have a problem here."

"Okay, I am being serious. If you think spending a couple days at Castle's loft is a problem, then you really do have a problem. You could always just call him and say you changed your mind. You don't have to go."

"Yes I do! There's no way I would ever live it down. Plus Ryan and Esposito were both right there when I agreed to it. I have to do it," Kate said, flustering herself just thinking about it.

"Well then do it! You never know, it could be fun," Lanie advised her letting out a yawn on the other side of the phone.

Kate shrugged. "Yea fun," she said sarcastically. "I'm just going to go to bed then, since I have to be there so early. I don't know why in the hell I would have to be there at dawn. Night, Lanie."

"Good night. At least try to have fun. Lord knows you need some," Lanie said before hanging up.

Kate wasn't tired. She didn't know what to do. However, it was already really late and she had to get up in the morning. She turned off the lights and laid down in her bed, staring at the ceiling for another hour until she finally fell asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

**Okay so I'm kind of excited about this fic. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head for what happens when Kate gets to the loft. I was trying really hard to make this all seem in character, so if it's not please tell me. I'm also in the middle of writing "Save Me, Partner" so I'll update them both when I get a chance to. Thanks, everyone, I hope you enjoyed it so far. **


	2. Chapter 2

It was her day off, and Kate's alarm went off before the sun was even up. God she should've gotten more sleep last night. There was no way she was going to be able to have enough energy for Castle this morning. He was probably still sleeping, the jerk.

She got up and went into the bathroom, taking a quick shower to wake herself up. When she was finished with that, she dried herself off with a towel and wrapped another one around her hair before heading back to the bedroom. What should she wear? It's not like she'd have to dress up if they'd be at the loft all day. So she pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a white t-shirt. Then after doing her hair and make-up, paying special attention to the bags under her eyes, she added an NYPD zip-up and some sneakers.

Grabbing a granola bar on her way out the door for something to eat, she headed to Richard Castle's loft for a day of writing.

…

Kate was standing in the elevator on her way up to the loft. She suddenly became nervous all over again and bit her bottom lip. She had been so confident before, with two beers in her system. Now she had to spend two days writing a story with THE Richard Castle. The story had to at least be good, the way she had teased him. How was she going to pull this off?

When the elevator came to a stop, she stepped into the hallway and walked over to his doorway. She could just not do this. She could call him and say she got called in or something. Or that her dad came in for an unexpected visit.

_No._ She could do this. She was Detective Kate Beckett. She kept criminals off the streets and faced down killers. She could handle being in the loft with Castle for two whole days, and she could write a decent story. At least she hoped she could.

Not wanting to be late for her crack of dawn deadline, she took a big breath and stepped up to the door. She lifted her hand up, but the door opened before she even knocked. Castle was standing there in sweatpants and a t-shirt with a big grin on his face. God, he looked excited. "Good morning, Detective."

"How did you know I was here, Castle? I didn't even knock."

"I was up in the living room already, and I heard the elevator ding," Castle explained matter-of-factly. "Then I looked in the peephole and saw you pacing and waving your arms around. I figured I'd just let you do that."

Oh. A blush creeped onto Kate's cheeks as Castle stepped aside to let her in. She took a couple steps inside and turned back to him. "Yea well … um … good morning. So why don't you tell me what we'll be doing this early?" she asked trying to change the subject. Then she noticed his gaze drop from her face to her hands. "What?"

Castle looked back up at her face again and his expression sobered up slightly. "Nothing," he said. "I just thought that maybe since you decided to turn things around today that maybe …"

When his sentence trailed off she looked stepped a little closer to him and looked into his eyes. "Maybe I'd what?"

"Oh, you know. I just thought that maybe you would bring the coffee today," he admitted. "But don't worry about it," he added when she looked a little lost for words. He looked a little embarrassed for bringing it up, but the fact that he thought about the coffee he brought her every day warmed her heart a little bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't really think about it on my way over here," Kate said, knowing that it was a pathetic excuse. It's true she hadn't thought of it. But she should have.

"No really, don't worry about it. Shall we get started?" he asked her, with the excitement returning to his voice a little bit. "I think it's time to show you just how critical writing can be." He gave her a challenging look with humor in his eyes and led her into the living room. Here goes.

Kate took off her zip-up and layed it over the arm of the sofa. She loved the living room in the loft. Her apartment might be comfortable and stylish, but it wasn't homey like here. Her art and decorations didn't compare to the pictures and smells and family atmosphere that this place gave off.

When Castle stopped in front of her she just waited for him to say what was first. What did Richard Castle do when it was time to write? Even though she had a somber expression on her face, she couldn't help but freak out a little bit internally. He is her _favorite_ author. His books were so good. The stuff that he came up with sometimes was just mind blowing and never failed to amaze her.

"So where do we start?" she asked him, ready for anything. "How does THE Richard Castle start his day when it's time to write?"

He sent her a light smile and pointed to the couch. "First things first. Take your shoes off and sit down."

Taking him completely serious, she obediently removed her shoes and sat down on the couch. It was weird, him being the one telling her what to do. But she looked back up at him anyway and waited for him to say what happened next. Instead he sat down next to her and grabbed her arm. He pulled her toward him a little bit so she was leaning into him.

"Okay, now lean this way a little bit and … there we go," he said situating her so she was practically in his lap and laying back into the seat.

"Um … Castle? What are you doing?" Kate asked him.

"Just relax," he answered softly. "Are you comfy?"

She sat straight up and looked at his face. "Castle!"

"Rule number one of being an author, you get to set your own hours. Sleeping in is the best part. You didn't really think I wake up earlier than you do for your work every day, did you?" There was humor in his voice, but when he looked at Kate's serious face he could tell she wasn't amused. "Okay, come on. I can tell you're tired. You should just sleep for a little while."

Apparently the extra time she spent on her makeup this morning hadn't made a difference. He could still see right through her. She had to admit, his couch was a lot more comfortable than it looked. And it looked comfortable in the first place.

"Yea …. Yea okay," she agreed, putting her arm to his shoulder and pushing lightly. "But you get that side," she added sending him over to the other side of the couch. He had a slight pout on his face, but it disappeared when he could see the smile in her eyes.

Kate situated herself to get comfortable and looked over at Castle. When she noticed that he had just been washing her, she smiled and tossed a pillow at him. "Go to sleep, Castle." When he looked away, she finally closed her eyes and it didn't take long before she went to sleep herself.

…

A few hours later Kate heard a door shut and her eyes fluttered open. She looked over to the other side of the couch to find Castle still sleeping. Glancing at her watch, she came to the assumption that Alexis must've just left for school.

She sat up straight and looked at Castle for a minute. She should probably wake him up, but he looked so peaceful sleeping. She decided against it and got up to check her phone. She found a text from Lanie, telling her to 'relax and have fun.' She smiled and locked her phone, setting it on the arm of the couch next to her sweater.

Then she went to the bathroom to check her hair and makeup once again. The prominent bags under her eyes were less prominent and she looked more rested, so she settled with that.

When Kate poked her head back out to the living room, she saw Castle still sleeping on the couch. His mouth was lightly hanging open and he was hugging the pillow she had thrown at him earlier. Suddenly she was hit with a great idea. She tiptoed around the back of the couch and went into the kitchen. She might've felt like she was snooping when she looked through his cupboards, but she did. Mostly she knew where everything was anyway though.

….

Thirty minutes later, Kate was sitting back in her spot on the couch, across from Castle when he woke up. He looked up at her to find her watching him and closed his mouth that had been hanging open.

"Good morning Rick," she said holding a mug of fresh coffee out to him.

**Hi : D I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. It turned out more fluffy than I had originally planned, but I guess I couldn't help it. They'll actually get started with everything in the next chapter. I'll try and get more out soon, but that'll depend on if I'm still alive after 'Always.' Let me know what you think. **


	3. Chapter 3

Castle's face lit up and his eyes softened as he took the cup of coffee that Kate was holding out to him. "Good morning," he said and looked into the mug. It had been so very thoughtful, but he'd seen her try to run an espresso machine before and it wasn't pretty. He took a small sip anyways and was delightfully surprised to find it was good. _Really _good, he thought now taking a bigger gulp. "What did you do to this?"

"You'll never know," she teased him. She expected a pout in return, but then when he was looking at her with an expression somewhere between shock and amusement she didn't quite catch on. "What?"

"Oh nothing," he said playfully and took another drink from his mug, his eyes still trained on her and filled with amusement. Well this just wasn't fair. She was the one who was trying to tease him. "I was just a little scared to drink this. I've seen you try to make a cup of coffee before."

Kate's jaw dropped a little bit. "You've only seen me try to work that high tech thing you bought for the Precinct, Castle. I know how to work a regular coffee machine, you know. I do own one."

"Well I guess I know now. Seriously though, what did you do to this?" he asked her pointing to the mug in his hands that was now almost empty.

"I don't think I wanna tell you that," she shot back at him and almost stood up when she caught movement from the other side of the room. She whipped her neck to the right and saw Martha walking down the steps in a bright set of silky purple pajamas. Martha's eyes were half closed as she trudged into the kitchen without even taking notice of them on the couch. Apparently, she wasn't actually awake yet.

The two, sitting quietly on the couch, watched while Martha shuffled around the kitchen. First she opened the fridge and just looked in it for a full minute, apparently trying to decide what looked good. She grabbed a dish out and lifted the lid off to look inside it, and then brought it up to her nose to smell it. Her face twisted into a frown and she resealed the lid, all but throwing the container back into the fridge and slamming the door shut.

Then Martha opened the freezer, and looked around. Frowning again after another minute, she shut that door, too. Now she walked over to the cupboards, and moved around a couple of small boxes and bags of food and snacks. Apparently unsuccessful in finding breakfast, Martha shut the cupboard and stalked over to another one. Her hands disappeared into the cupboard that Kate could only see the side of, and then emerged with a glass and bottle of wine.

When Martha filled her glass and set the bottle on the counter, Kate couldn't help but to burst out laughing. Martha jumped and looked over at the couch, where Kate and Castle were sitting and watching her.

"Good morning Mother," Castle said to her before getting up and walking into the kitchen. Kate followed close behind, still trying to keep the smile off her face.

"Oh! Hello Detective Beckett, I didn't expect to see you here this morning," she said over her wine and then looked over to her son. "You didn't tell me we'd be having company Richard. Care for a glass of wine, dear?"

"Thanks, but no," she replied. "I'm actually here for business today. Castle here thinks I don't have what it takes to write a decent story, so I figured who better to show me the ropes."

"Yes, he's always been quite cocky."

"Well I never said that," he said looking over to Martha with his jaw agape when she shot him a glare. "She just implied that writing doesn't take the same level of critical thinking as her detective work. I wanted her to try and write something."

Martha watched as the two shot each other glances and stood at an awkward distance from each other between the counter and the island in the kitchen. A mischievous smirk ran across her face. "Well I'll just go ahead and leave you to it then," she said with a knowing glance at her son. "You guys better get started." She picked up her glass and the bottle of wine, and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Not so fast," Castle said grabbing the bottle out of her hands to seal it and put it away. "You need to eat some food for breakfast."

"Honestly Richard .." Martha muttered and walked back over to the fridge again. She rummaged around in the fridge for two full minutes and then came out with the same container she had thrown back in there before. She just looked at it and then shrugged, grabbing a fork on her way out of the kitchen.

….

An hour later, Kate and Rick had each had an omelet and some more coffee for breakfast and retreated into Castle's office. Martha had showered and changed, deciding to make herself scarce for the day. The two were each sitting in a big comfortable across from each other. They had been sitting in silence for a few minutes after Martha had left, giving Castle a wink on her way out when Kate hadn't been looking.

"Okay so what do you do?" Kate asked Castle expectantly.

"Hmm?" he sounded in response. He had been staring at the picture behind his desk, lost in thought.

"When you're going to write a book. What's the first thing you do to get started?" Kate was looking at him eagerly. Little did he know that this was all very exciting for her.

"Oh, right. Well usually I don't do much actual writing until an idea hits me. I have to know what I want to write about, and who I want my characters to be. Do you have any ideas?" he asked her.

She had been listening so intently to what he had been saying that she almost forgot to talk. "Well … um .. no, I guess I hadn't really thought about it."

"Exactly that's the difficult part!" he said walking over to one of his shelves and pulling out a leather-bound book. He made his way over to his desk and tucked it under his arm to open up his drawer and rummage around for a pen. When he came up with one, he walked back over to her and held them out to her. "Here."

She took the book and pen from his hands and just looked at them for a minute. Opening the book to look inside of it, she flipped the pages around and found them all blank. "What is this?"

"Write," he told her. "Write down what you're thinking about, anything that comes to mind. A scene, a character, a problem. Just put it all together on the paper until you have an idea."

She smiled and clicked open the pen, she could do this. Then he started to disappear through the doorway and her head shot back up. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I'll be back, don't worry. I'm just gonna give you a few minutes to get that started," he replied, giving her a glance before disappearing into the living room. Kate opened the notebook back up and got started.

….

Another half an hour had passed and Kate was still sitting in Castle's office. Her pages had barely anything written on them and she was chewing on the back of her pen. Meanwhile, Castle had returned to his seat across from her and was intensely focused on trying to throw cards into a hat 8 feet in front of him. Over the past ten minutes he had built paper airplanes, discovered a new game on his iPhone, and tried to be sneaky about taking a picture of Kate's concentrated face for her new caller ID. He apparently had the attention span of a goldfish.

"Jeez, will you just stop," she said looking over at him, the frustration clear on her face. He wasn't even being very noisy.

He just smirked at her. "What? Is it too difficult just making stuff up? All out of ideas, Detective Beckett?"

It _was_, but she wouldn't tell him that. She'd been trying to think of different scenarios she could use, or different characters. But every time an idea popped into her head for a crime scene, she realized a minute later that it was one that she really had seen, and all of the characters she could come up with were people from her cases. She couldn't just write a mystery about something that had really happened. Apparently that wasn't an option, but she couldn't just out and tell him she had no ideas. She was the one who had brought herself into this.

"No, I was just thinking. I don't think writing a mystery is a good idea for me," Kate told him. "How about a romance?" She sent him a smoldering look and cocked one eyebrow, causing his mouth to open a little and the cards in his hands to drop to the floor.

**Gosh I'm having so much fun writing this. I also had to write Martha in, because besides KBecks, she's my favorite character on the show. I hope everyone liked it. I sure needed to write something a little more calm after the finale last night. I'm still freaking out about it. Let me know what you think, and I'll have more up soon. **


	4. Chapter 4

Castle's gaze stayed on Kate as he leaned over and reached down to pick up the scattered cards. "What? … Um yea. A romance?" he sputtered out. After a moment he snapped himself out of it and spoke more confidently. "I guess I just pinned you for a mystery girl, for obvious reasons."

"Well yea," Kate said giving him a small smile. He had pinpointed her correctly. "But I investigate murders for a living and read about it all the time. It's my day off. What better way to get my mind off of all that?" she lied. She lived and breathed for murder, mystery and mayhem. It was almost all she thought about. In fact, reading a good mystery was the most often way she did spend her days off. She couldn't tell him that she had no idea how to write one, though.

A romance would be good, too. Kate Beckett was a hopeless romantic. It would be so much easier to come up with a story with all of the fantasies she conjured up in her head when she actually took in the people of New York City. Even when she just walked through the park on a weekend, she could a woman snapping a photo and laughing while a man ran around with a little girl perched up on his shoulders, an old couple sitting on a bench and holding hands, a nervous teenager buying an ice cream cone for him and his girlfriend that smiled at him coyly.

"That makes sense," he said bringing her out of her thoughts. "Do you know what it's going to be about then?"

"Yea. Yea I think I do," she said turning to a fresh page in the notebook Castle had handed to her earlier. Ideas were now running through her like crazy, but there was a specific one that latched on. Even thinking about it brought a slight blush to her cheeks and she turned her face down so he wouldn't notice.

Just as she brought the tip of her pen to the page, she heard an expectant, "Well?" from Castle in his seat.

"Well what?" she asked looking back up at him again.

"Weeelll … whats your idea?"

"I'm not going to tell you. You have to wait until it's finished just like Ryan and Espo do," she said matter-of-factly, even though she was internally relishing the fact that she was driving him crazy. This could be fun.

"Oh come on," Castle pouted and gave her the best pleading look he could come up with. When she just shook her head and finally began writing something he just slumped back into his seat. "Well this sucks."

….

After Kate had spent a while writing down character traits, settings and ideas for scenes that popped into her head she stopped her pen. She was a little excited to get started on her story and knew just how she was going to open it up, but she didn't know if he wanted her to write the whole story in the notebook or what. She shot a glance over at him to find him staring at her. How long had he been doing that?

"Can I help you?" Kate asked him a bit sarcastically. She'd caught him watching her way too many times today. What was so interesting about her sitting and writing in a notebook?

"Me? No," he replied returning to the latest James Patterson book that was now in his hands. When she didn't stop looking at him, he slid the book back down to give her his attention. "What's up?"

"I'm ready to start writing," she told him with a bit of enthusiasm in her voice. "Do you want me to just write it all in the notebook? I didn't bring anything to type with."

"You could do that if you want to. I have a computer and a couple of typewriters, too," he explained. "But why don't we take a break for a while. We've been in here all morning. I'm bored."

"I have the perfect idea, though!" she practically whined, staying put in her seat when Castle got up and walked over to her.

Castle laughed at her and held out his hand, "No, come on. It's break time. If you're ready to start writing already, then you're already ahead of your deadline. Let me take you to lunch."

At the mention of lunch, Kate suddenly felt her stomach protest at how empty it was. She had been so engrossed in her story that she hadn't even noticed how hungry she'd gotten. It was like when she was working a case sometimes, and she could sit and stare at her murder board for hours just throwing ideas around in her head, wondering where to start next. It was then that she came to the realization that even though they were two totally different things, Castle was right. Writing took more critical thinking than she had thought. She wouldn't tell him that just yet, though.

"You don't have to take me to lunch. We can just make something here," she said, giving in and taking his hand so he could lift her up out of her seat. He did it fast and with so much ease that she had to stand straight for a second to catch her balance. When she was good, she let go of his hand and her own went down to adjust her shirt.

"I actually just wanted to get out of her for a little bit and get some fresh air. Besides, there's nothing to eat here right now anyway. We can go get some pizza or something," Castle suggested.

Oh god, pizza sounded delicious. "Yea okay," Kate decided. "That sounds good."

She walked into the living room to find her shoes next to the couch where she had left them. Sitting back down again to put them on, she watched Castle walk out of his bedroom door to see that he had changed his clothes. She smiled and supposed that sweatpants wasn't exactly the right outfit to go out into the city. Now he was wearing a pair of jeans and a fresh t-shirt with some sort of circle and Chinese writing on the front. She pondered what it could mean while he made his way over to the closet to get his own shoes.

Kate walked over to the door once Castle had slipped his shoes on, grabbing her phone off the couch on the way. She didn't grab her sweater though, because the day would've warmed up enough by now to not need it. They headed down in the elevator silently and walked out the door. It was then that she remembered she had driven her motorcycle that morning.

"I think we're going to have to get a cab," she said simply looking down at her bike.

He followed her gaze and his face lit up. "What? No this is awesome, you should give me a ride."

Kate looked at her bike, up to Castle's excited face, and then back down to her bike again. She had a small urge to give in. "I don't have a second helmet for you. Maybe some other time."

Castle just shrugged and didn't seem too disappointed. She figured he was taking a mental note to invest in a helmet sometime soon so he could coax her into it. Thinking about giving him a ride on her motorcycle made her stomach flip, and she internally smiled when she pictured him wearing a silly helmet and trying to hang on.

"We could take your car," she suggested, getting her head off the subject. She really had no focus today, all of this romance stuff was making her sappy.

**Welp, there you have it. Okay, this chapter was a bit less eventful. At least I feel like it is. There will be more fun to come, though. I have a lot of things I want to happen all planned out in my head, getting them all down is just the thing. I can still hardly focus on anything Castle related without freaking out over the last episode some more. **

**Thanks everyone for all the comments, favorites, and alerts and things. It really makes my day. I'll probably be posting another chapter up tomorrow. **


	5. Chapter 5

Castle raised his eyebrows at her. He remembered the last time she drove his car. It might've been sexy, but she had driven like a bat out of hell and right now was the lunch rush hour. It was amusing though, since she was usually a boring driver and a stickler about rules in her crown vic. He didn't imagine she'd let him be the one to drive, either.

"I have a better idea," he suggested easily, holding his elbow out to her. "Do you want to walk?"

Kate smiled coyly. Castle was trying to be smooth. She supposed she would have to let him get away with it since she had been teasing him so much. "Yea okay," she accepted and placed her arm in the crook of his elbow.

They walked almost ten blocks before Kate's stomach growled up at her They had already passed by two Italian restaurants and a Chinese buffet, with all of the smells wafting out to her. Looking around, she noticed that they weren't headed toward any pizza joints she was familiar with. Honestly, she couldn't care less if it was pizza they were eating anymore as long as she got some food.

"Where are we going, Castle? Are we almost there?" she asked. She was getting a little bit impatient.

Castle just smirked in her direction. "We're almost there I promise. Don't worry you'll love this place, it'll be worth it."

Kate took his word for it, because he looked a little excited. Exactly what kind of restaurant could he be taking her to? Sometimes the food he liked was just a little bit too "out there" for her. But when he stopped in front of a place with a line all the way out the door and he walked straight to the front, she knew it would be something interesting.

"What is this place?" she asked him when curiosity got the best of her.

Castle's smirk got a little bit bigger and he leaned in a little closer to her so she could hear him. With the crowd around them it was starting to get a little bit loud. "Do you remember the pizza place from _Gathering Storm_?" When Kate nodded he continued. "Well this is it."

When Castle got them in and sitting at a table near the middle of the restaurant, Kate looked all around her. There were round tables with red and white checkered tablecloths, and booths against the far wall. The walls were covered in Italian paintings and cooking paraphernalia, and the place was full of excited waiters and good smells. The kitchen was open for all to see and the pizza was cooked in old-fashioned pizza ovens up high on the wall. Standing in the kitchen were three Italian men with tall chef hats, making a show of preparing the food. They were throwing pizza dough up in the air to stretch them and juggling them between the three.

Kate remembered reading about this place in _Gathering Storm_, but she had no idea it was a real place. It was so much cooler, actually being there. She remembered that you could build your own pizza, choosing from all the sauces, toppings, and cheeses that you wanted. She could hardly wait to check out the menu. How did Castle find places like this?

A young waiter came over to give them some menus and get their drink orders. They both just ordered Pepsi's and went ahead to look at the menus. By the time the waiter came back, the two had decided on sharing a large pizza and each deciding on toppings for half. However, it would take a good twenty minutes before their food would arrive and Kate was hungry now, and her stomach grumbled loud enough for Castle to hear this time.

He smiled over to her. "You know what to do," he said. She had almost forgotten about this part.

Kate gave in after a moment and shouted, "Bread!" loud enough to hear over the chatter and excitement about the place. A waiter carrying around a bread basket stopped to toss her a breadstick from halfway across the room that she caught with both hands. Now she looked around, but nobody seemed to be paying that much attention. Apparently this was normal. Kate just shrugged and dug into her bread, but stopped mid-bite when she noticed Castle watching her.

"What?"

"Oh nothing," he said and met her eyes. "This just isn't the day I was expecting."

"Yea I'll agree with you there. It's been a pretty interesting day. I can't wait to get back and get started with actually writing something," Kate shared with some amusement in her voice.

"Oh I know, I'm glad you're liking it. Let me know when you're ready to admit that writing is difficult."

"Ha, yea that'll happen. Now that I know what I want to do this is going to be easy stuff," she said with a sly grin plastered on her face. He was just too easy. "As a matter of fact we should eat fast so I don't lose my idea. I know just how I want to start it."

That put a bit of a pout on Castle's face. He had brought her here hoping that she would be impressed and enjoy herself. "Come on, you won't forget. Your memory is like a vault, and if you're that worried you could just tell me about it and I won't forget," he suggested, waggling his eyebrows even though he was completely aware that she wouldn't share her top secret idea with him. "I thought taking you out to lunch would be a good break. Let's just relax and have a little bit of fun."

Castle waited for Kate to make some kind of remark about keeping her idea secret, but her eyebrows scrunched up a little in thought. "I want to get started, though. We can have fun later," she told him.

"What? At least relax a little bit, it's your day off. I took you out for a reason; you could really use the break."

Well that wasn't expected. Kate didn't need him to get her to take a break, this had already been a fun day off so far already. It's not exactly like sitting around at the loft making stuff up had been real work.

"Well if it's such a big deal, don't worry about it, I can take care of my own lunch. I'm perfectly capable of relaxing when I need to," she huffed out on a breath.

"Oh don't be ridiculous. I brought you here, I can take care of it," he said incredulously.

"No, I'll get it. Don't worry about it, it's not like it's a date, Castle!"

Castle's jaw dropped a little bit. Why did she have to be so difficult? He hadn't even hinted that it was a date, even though he had tried to impress her today by bringing her to one of his favorite places. He was hoping it suited her more than some expensive, fancy restaurant.

"Well yea! I just thought I could get it anyway. Besides, this place will be a little bit expensive."

Now Kate's jaw dropped. Had he really just gone there? "Just because I don't make a fortune, Castle, doesn't mean I can't take care of myself. I'm perfectly capa—"

Then Kate was cut off by a high pitched, excited shout on her right side. "Is that Richard Castle?"

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry that I waited so long for an update. As it turns out my mom dragged me to visit my cousins for like a week and I didn't get to bring Gladys (my laptop) with me. I just got back this morning.**

**As for this chapter, I hope you guys like it. The restaurant is based off of a place near where I live, so it's not something they have in New York or something that was actually in **_**Gathering Storm**_**. It's such a great place though. I also figured an argument was something that had to come eventually between the two, but it'll all work out in the end. **

**As long as I don't get dragged out of the state for a week with no technology and civilization again, I'll be updating soon. It's not likely that I will. **


	6. Chapter 6

Kate's eyes widened in annoyance and she let out a breath of air, as an old woman in a wheel chair was pushed over to their table.

"Well isn't this just a pip of a day! I can't believe it's Richard Castle." Kate heard as they approached. "Hi, I'm Edna!" the old woman said extending a hand in Castle's direction and shaking his hand excitedly. Kate just decided it would be a good idea to smile politely even though she was still peeved.

"Nice to meet you," Castle responded and gave her a winning smile. If Kate didn't know him so well, she wouldn't be able to see the irritation hidden behind his expression. The fan might've been a cute old woman, but they were sort of in the middle of something.

"You know I just read your book _Heat Rises_," Edna shared with excitement in her voice. "That's how I noticed you, 'cause I remembered your picture. In real life you sure are smokin'."

When Castle just blinked, Kate let out a small snort. He sent her a short glare and looked back at Edna. "Thanks?"

"Oh it's a compliment," Edna said matter-of-factly then looked over at Kate. "You must be Detective Kate Beckett, the one that's Nikki Heat, huh? I always wondered what you would look like."

"Yea, that's me. Nice to meet you," Kate answered after a moment. She wasn't used to getting recognized. It always caught her off guard a little bit.

"Oh my, is that your gun?" Edna asked with her eyes cutting to Kate's hip holster. Kate didn't really have any reason to have her gun with her since it was her day off, but she hadn't gone anywhere without it in so long. You never knew when something could happen.

"Um, yea."

"I had a gun, but they took it away," Edna said with a hint of frustration in her voice. "You shoot one lousy electrical box and suddenly you're not fit to carry a gun anymore. How's a good-looking, independent woman supposed to protect herself if a rapist or a thug were to break into my apartment?"

Kate looked over to Castle yet again. She might've been mad at him, but she was lost for words and he obviously had a knack for them. He didn't say anything, though. Before she could come up with an answer, the young woman that had been pushing Edna's wheelchair spoke up.

"Grandma the whole block blacked out. You can't just be shooting random things."

The young woman was a pretty blonde that looked to be in her mid-twenties. She had soft blue eyes and full cheeks that would probably reveal dimples if she was smiling. Now her voice had disapproval, but a hint of care and amusement toward her grandmother, who had apparently shot a transformer and put an entire block out of power.

"It wasn't random," Edna complained back up to her granddaughter. "Maybe if that old fart, Harold, down the hall didn't leave his TV on so loud all hours of the night. How was anybody supposed to get to sleep? I did everybody a favor is what I did."

"It was only 8:30, and he had it up loud because his hearing aid wasn't working right. All you had to do was go knock on the door and ask him."

"Oh rubbish," Edna said and then turned the conversation back to the two sitting in front of them. "This is my granddaughter, Rachel. I took her out to lunch today on account of she's been taking care of me. This is her first week in New York, so she hasn't seen very much yet."

"Well welcome to New York," Castle said sending another big smile over to Rachel. "It's great this time of year, so you came at just the right time."

"Thanks," Rachel blushed, obviously star struck at meeting Richard Castle.

"Oh it's just so cool meeting you guys," Edna broke back into the conversation. "You guys do make such a good-looking couple."

Kate's annoyance that had been slowly disappearing within this quirky conversation bubbled back up. Of course, Edna had read all the sex scenes in Castle's books and thought they were together. Everyone did.

"We're actually not. That's just part of the book, we only work together," she informed Edna flatly.

"Oh my, well isn't that the pits. He's a looker," Edna said to Kate. Now she turned to the now smirking Castle. "I bet Rachel here would be glad to keep you company. Maybe you should show her the city sometime," she said nudging Rachel a little bit. Rachel's blushed deepened three shades as she shot her grandmother a glare.

"Actually, I'd love to," Castle said with more charm. Why not? She seemed nice, and it had been made _quite_ clear that this was not a date. He borrowed a pen from a passing waiter and scribbled his number on a napkin, passing it over to Rachel. "Call me, sometime."

Kate couldn't keep her face from scrunching into a frown for a split second, before taking a drink to hide herself behind her glass and compose herself. What was he doing, asking this girl out right in front of her? But that shouldn't bother her at all. Right? Like she said before, this wasn't a date. He could ask out whoever he wanted. It was none of her concern.

"I think maybe I will," Rachel smiled and locked eyes with Castle.

Kate ignored the clench in her stomach and looked over to Edna, refusing to look at Castle's face. "So are you a big reader then?"

"Sometimes," Edna answered. "I had to find something to do on Tuesday nights since I'm not allowed to bowl anymore. I also like crossword puzzles. Speaking of books though, can you guys sign mine? Rachel go fetch it it's in the car."

"Grandma, we're parked a block away," Rachel whined looking to her grandmother.

"One block won't kill you. Just go get it please," Edna demanded. The girl sighed and Kate refused to let a smile spread on her face. It was beneath her to wish something annoying on the girl. She had no reason to not like her.

"If you wanted I could walk with you," Castle piped up and caught everyone's attention. "Edna here can keep Beckett company for a few minutes."

"That's a great idea!" Edna exclaimed winking at Rachel as Castle stood up so she could take his arm.

The two walked out arm in arm before anyone could object. Not that anyone would, what could she say?

**Alright that's where I'm going to end it. This chapter was going to be longer but I decided to break what I was going to do into two parts. I'm so glad everyone's having fun with this story, because I sure am.**

**So I had fans for the fangirl, but I decided to make it a random older lady instead. I had fun making up her character. Also, I know! Castle asking the girl out right in front of her was a harsh, but I thought it was something his character might actually do in this situation when she just shot him down. Even though I'm trying to keep this story light, it seemed like the right move to make. Let know what you think!**

**I'll update again soon when I get the chance. I'm not quite sure how busy my weekend will be. Thanks guys! **


	7. Chapter 7

Kate was kind of pissed. She wanted to yell, but the only thing she would be allowed to yell in the middle of the restaurant without looking like a crazy person was "Bread!" So she did. When she was tossed a breadstick, she swung an arm out to catch it and plopped back into her seat to take an angry bite.

"Oh my, is everything okay?" Edna asked her.

Oh jeez. "Yea I was just .. um, I was just hungry," Kate stammered out, mentally slapping herself for letting Castle get to her in front of Edna. "Our food should be coming out any time now though."

Then, as if on cue, the waiter strode out of the kitchen carrying a big tray loaded with pizza. He came to the table and set it in the middle, along with two big plates and some fresh drinks. When he asked if there was anything else needed and cleared out, Kate was tempted to dig right in. She couldn't really decide if she wanted to wait for Castle to get back or just eat something.

Edna apparently noticed her internal struggle and started talking again. "You know, I read all those Nikki Heat books. I never pegged her for a liar, though."

Kate choked up a little bit on her drink, the statement catching her by surprise. "I'm sorry. What?"

"You lied. You like him, don't you?"

"Who, Castle? No we're just," Kate started to say and then stopped. What were they? And obviously Edna had seen right through her, so what could she say? Maybe talking to someone she didn't know, that wasn't a therapist, could be a good idea. She looked at Edna now with sincerity shining behind her eyes. "I don't know. With him everything is different, I guess like isn't even strong enough of a word. We're not seeing each other or anything, but he's my partner."

Edna's eyes lit up at the admission, and Kate let out a breath of relief. She'd never actually said this aloud to anyone, not even her best friend Lanie. She could spin theories and coax confessions easy enough, but putting her own feelings into words was just not easy for her. It always seemed easier not to talk about it. It felt good to finally have that out in the open, though, even if Edna was a random old woman that she happened across in a pizza joint. It was probably better that it wasn't a friend anyways. All of hers would just pester her about it every time they saw her and Castle together.

Edna scooted to the edge of her seat and leaned closer to Kate. "Let me give you some advice. You should just woman up and kiss that boy while you're still young. I can tell you from personal experience that you don't want to wait too long, or he could move on to some other hussy."

"From personal experience? Are you married?" Kate asked her, hoping for more motivation.

"I was. My husband, Arnold, passed away when he was only 62. I tried playing the fields a little bit after that, but nobody could keep up with me like my Arnold did." Edna smiled at her memories with a twinkle in her old green eyes before continuing. "When I was seventeen years old, Arnold was my very best friend. I was too scared to tell him that I liked him, and he was going to ask my nemesis, Mary Hawthorne, to the school dance. Three nights before the dance I decided enough was enough, so I went out. That night I went over to that Mary Hawthorne's house and TP'd her car. Then I went to Arnold's house and gave him a big smooch right on the mouth. For our first date he took me to the dance, and we stayed together for two years before I made him marry me."

"That's amazing," Kate said after listening to Edna's story. This old lady was something else. Maybe she should just woman up and 'give him a big smooch right on the mouth.' TPing Rachel's car could be fun, too, but she wouldn't go there.

"Oh I know," Edna replied easily, as if they had been talking about something much less touching than the story of her falling in love with her best friend. "You know, if you want, I can find Rachel's napkin with your man's number on it later and burn it."

….

Meanwhile, Castle and Rachel walked down the streets of New York City, headed to the car for Edna's copy of _Heat Rises_. They both walked with their arms at their sides, about a foot apart. Castle was making small talk and trying to bide his time, thinking of what he could say to Kate when they got back.

"So, Miss Rachel, how are you liking the big apple so far?"

"I like it, I really do. It's not like home though. Everything here is always so busy and awake," she said adding enthusiasm to her voice.

Castle gave her a smile. "Yea I guess that's why I like it. There's never a dull moment in a city full of exciting new people."

"Speaking of exciting new people, it's so surreal to actually get to meet you. I've read a couple of your books and my grandma just worships them. Where do you get your ideas?" she asked and Castle sighed.

There it was. This was why he never asked out his fans, and this was why Detective Kate Beckett had been different. Kate might've been a fan of his, but she hadn't been interested in using talk about his books to spark something between them or trying to sneak her way into his personal life. She was all about justice, and he was the one who had to do the sneaking.

Now he was her partner, and they might not be together but they were a part of each other's personal life. Whatever it was that they were. Now he realized he probably just shot whatever it was that they were to hell, leaving her with a fan of his and going on a walk with another woman when he was supposed to be out to lunch with her. How was he going to fix this one?

"Is something wrong?" Rachel asked when he just looked distressed and didn't answer her question.

Yea, something was wrong. Just this morning he had Kate at his door, ready to spend two whole days with him. They slept together on the couch and she made him coffee, then they had breakfast together. They walked together down the street, and he had shared one of his favorite places with her. Then, the minute he tried to have fun she resisted. And instead of accepting her will to work, one of her traits that he so admired, he had to get all offended. Now, he was on the street walking with a pretty girl and getting asked the age old question, 'Where do you get your ideas?'

"You know what I don't get?" Rick huffed. "Women! First you help them out, and they tease you about it. Then, they do something nice for you on a whim. So you try to do something nice for them back, but instead they get all huffy because even if you didn't even hint it was a date, you're not allowed to take them out for some fun because it's not a date and the fun can wait. And it doesn't even matter if they think you're smart or funny, they won't tell you when they think you're right or if they're having fun."

"Well for starters Rick, it doesn't matter how smart you are. A woman will never tell you when she thinks you're right," Rachel told him after listening to his rant.

"Well it's annoying!"

Rachel laughed at the stubborn look on his face. "For some reason, I get the feeling this isn't about women in general."

They reached an old Buick, parked a block away from the restaurant and Rachel stopped to stick her key in the door. Castle just watched as she rummaged around the pouch behind the front seat to find the book. "I'm sorry, this probably isn't how you imagined going for a walk with me would go."

"Actually no, it's not. I've heard enough rumors about the playboy author with ruggedly good looks, this is kind of refreshing. Do you want to talk about it?" Rachel asked, retreating from the car with book in hand. "I think I can guess who this is about."

…..

Kate sighed as thoughts whirred around in her head. She was torn between wanting to just give in and kiss Castle senseless and still being angry at him for walking out with Rachel. But the anger won out when she saw the two walk in together talking and smiling like they had a secret. What could they be talking about?

"Hey guys," Castle said as he returned to his seat at the table. Delighted to find the food had arrived, he gave Kate a glance that said 'Shall we?' and grabbed a slice.

"You guys still have to sign my book!" Edna exclaimed and turned it to the title page, laying it on a clear spot on the table. "You too, Nikki Heat," she said nudging Kate with her elbow.

Apparently Rachel had also grabbed a sharpie from the car, so that they didn't have to sign the book with the waiter's crappy pen from earlier. Edna watched excitedly as the two signed the page.

"I just can't wait to show this to that old Mary Hawthorne at church next week. She thinks she's hot stuff since her cookies beat mine in the bake off last month. It's not my fault I accidentally mixed the salt and the sugar up, could happen to anybody. This beats the pants off a little cookie trophy, any day."

Kate gave Edna a genuine smile and handed her the book. It had been more than a little interesting to meet her. As Rachel moved to wheel her away, she placed a kiss on Castle's cheek and wished him good luck. Then the two were gone as fast as they had come. Then Castle, too nervous to break the ice, retreated into his pizza to give himself a minute to think of what to say. He needed to make this up to Kate somehow.

Then there was Kate, who was still angry. She sat and watched this woman kiss Castle on the cheek, and then watched him just start eating like nothing had gone wrong. She got up and pushed her seat in, she didn't even want to stay. Turning to walk away, she got past one table before she turned and looked back. Giving Castle a leer, she stalked back over to the table, grabbed a slice of pizza, and then stomped off.

**And here we say goodbye to Edna and Rachel. I couldn't decide if I wanted to keep the story with Kate and Edna in the restaurant, or take it to the street with Rick and Rachel. So voila! I gave you both. This chapter turned out differently than I had planned, but I liked where it went. No worries though, the fighting will come to an end soon.**

**I hope everyone has enjoyed it so far. Let me know what you think! **


	8. Chapter 8

Kate knew Castle was following her, but she didn't slow down. She stalked two blocks in the direction they had come from before slowing her pace and actually paying attention to where she was at. The loft wasn't too far away. She could go get her bike and go home, or she could stay and finish.

What would everyone say if she didn't finish her story? She couldn't just come out and tell everyone she left because Castle had practically begged her to take a break, then walked off with some other woman when she refused him. It was all a little bit ridiculous now that she thought about it. She couldn't even come up with any other excuse that would make sense if Castle told everyone she went home, or something to tell him when he wondered why she was mad enough to leave.

….

Kate made it to the loft a good ten minutes before Castle, only to find the door locked. She sat down in the hallway next to the door and leaned against the wall. Now she was beginning to feel a little embarrassed for leaving the restaurant. What would she say when he got here?

She dragged her phone out of her pocket and contemplated calling Lanie. She always seemed to have good advice for moments like these. The only problem was that if she just up and told Lanie what she did and how she was feeling, she would have to admit to how she was feeling.

Just as she slipped her phone back into her pocket, the elevator dinged and Castle stepped out. He walked straight to her and looked down at her for a minute before sitting down next to her against the wall. He nervously looked over at her and looked like he couldn't really think of what to say now.

"Hey."

"Hey," Kate answered back quietly.

"You came back here," Castle stated more to himself than anything. He thought he had ruined everything, that she was just going to go home and forget about all of this. He still didn't understand why taking a break was such a crime, but it was a bit of a jackass move to leave her there with the old lady when he was supposed to be out to lunch with her. Walking off arm in arm with Ra—_oh_. That was it wasn't it.

"I have a story to finish, Castle. I'm not leaving you yet," she said with her cop face so that she wasn't showing any particular emotion.

"Right," he said and stood back up. He would have to think of something to make this right.

He helped her up and put his key in the door to unlock it. Stepping inside they both wandered into his office. Kate saw her notebook and pen sitting in her seat from earlier and picked them up. Castle just watched warily as she fingered through the pages with writing on them.

"You said you have typewriters and stuff, right. Can I use one?" she asked absentmindedly, looking through her notes from earlier.

"Yea," he answered breaking through all of the thoughts whirling around in his head. "No problem. You don't just want to use a computer?"

Well she was thinking about doing that until she remembered he said he had some old typewriters. There was just something about an old-fashioned typewriter was kind of appealing. "I've just never actually used one before."

He nodded and disappeared out his office door, returning a few minutes later with a big typewriter in his hands. It was a little bit bigger than she'd actually expected and apparently a little bit heavier too if the way he set it onto the desk was any indication.

When he stepped away from the desk she took his chair and scooted up. However, she didn't even think about the fact that she was sitting at Richard Castle's desk, in his office, and using one of his typewriters to write something. It was finally time to get started.

Kate thought maybe she should make a title page or something, so she set the paper at the center. She placed her hands on the keys and typed out the title and her full name, Katherine Beckett. She then realized how much different it was then just typing with a computer keyboard. The keys were at different levels and her fingers didn't just flow to make easy sentences like they usually did.

She just pulled out the finished title page and went on to the next one. She stared at the keys and the blank paper, and then went back to her notes. She knew exactly what place she wanted to open her story at, but how to put it into words on the paper was the problem. Dammit. Where to start?

Focusing on the characters she had made up earlier that day wasn't as simple when she had more things running through her mind. How could you write about two people falling in love when your own love life was crap at the moment? Just staring at her hands she got lost in thought about everything that had happened just earlier in the day.

"Okay, that's it," she said with frustration covering her face. "I knew we shouldn't have taken that stupid break when we did. Now look, I don't even know what to write. I can't even get it started."

Castle looked up at her from his seat across the room when she spoke. She wasn't the only one thinking about what had happened earlier.

"Hmmm?"

Kate's frustration grew again and she lifted her hands from the keys and rested her forehead against them. "I told you this would happen. If I started right away when it was all fresh in my mind, I wouldn't have this problem."

"It's not really that uncommon, you know." Castle would've suggested taking another break until inspiration struck, but for some odd reason that didn't seem like a good idea. "You just have to clear your mind and focus on what you want to happen."

"Well maybe my mind's a little too full at the moment to do just that," she huffed.

Castle didn't really know what to say. He knew what was probably on her mind, but he couldn't just come out and say it. That would lead into other things that he just didn't want to get into, not at the moment anyway.

"Um … Well, do you wanna talk about it?" he asked, his words escaping with his voice sounding more nervous than he had hoped it would.

Kate thought about it for a minute before saying anything. She should've seen this coming. She couldn't just come back to the loft and continue the day like nothing had happened, no matter how much she wanted to.

"I was just thinking about this story Edna told me about when she was younger. She liked this guy for a long time, and they were best friends. She never told him about how she felt, so he was going to take another girl to the dance. It was this girl from school that she hated. So one night she just plucked up the courage and went to his house and kissed him."

"Wow, that's a pretty good story," Castle said. He hadn't expected the conversation to go to this.

"Yea, I thought so. They ended up going to the dance together. Then they got married and stayed together ever since," she said, smiling lightly at the story, glad she thought of something to say instead of what was actually on her mind.

"I could see her doing that. Edna, I mean. She seemed like a woman who liked to be in control of the situation," Castle let out on a laugh.

"Yea, I guess she just didn't want to see Arnold with anybody else."

The thought of that shook Castle a little bit. He didn't know if it was supposed to have more meaning behind it or if she was actually talking about Edna and Arnold. "Well, maybe he just didn't know she wanted him as anything more than a friend. Maybe she should've told him sooner."

Kate lifted her eyebrows and met his eyes. "Well maybe it wasn't the right time. Maybe every time she tried, he was walking away with another girl on his arm."

"Well maybe he wouldn't be if she wasn't so clear about them just being friends," he said waving a hand in the air in suggestion.

Now her look was more heated and her voice was a little higher. "Well maybe –"

She was cut off once again by the click of his office door. Both of them turned to find Alexis Castle standing in the doorway, fidgeting and awkwardly aware that she had walked into something.

"Hi guys."

"What's up, pumpkin?" Castle piped up to break the awkward air.

"Nothing really, I just got home from school. I was wondering if I could stay over at Paige's house tonight."

"Yea that's fine. Have fun," he said kissing her on the cheek before she left the room.

After Alexis was on her way, he looked back at Kate who was getting up from her seat at his desk. "Maybe I should just go home, Castle. I can't write anyways. I'll come back again tomorrow or something."

She headed towards the living room to find her sweater from earlier that morning before he stopped her. It might've been arguing, but every time they finally got around to anything it always got interrupted.

"You don't have to do that. Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I really shouldn't have left you in that restaurant. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I can help you get your mind off of it. I did happen to write an entire Nikki Heat book with plenty of distractions."

She put her sweater back on the couch and sighed. "Okay, tell me then. What should I do?"

"Well first of all, I was serious about the break. You really shouldn't do it all in one shot. It'll give you more time to think about the depth and the plot, and what things you might want to include about your characters."

"A break, huh? And what should we do on this break?" she asked, giving in.

"I think I have an idea, one I got from Rachel actually," Castle said dragging her across the front room into the kitchen.

"From Rachel?" Kate asked, with her smile faltering a little bit.

"Yea, she said she was going to do this with her grandma and it was something you might like."

"You guys talked about something I might like?"

"Yea, we talked about you for a while actually."

**And here we have chapter 8. I'm actually glad I'm done with it, so the predicament is at its end. I can go back to the lightness of before, if lightness is a word lol. Man it's been such an insane week, I don't even know how I found time to sit down and write the chapter at all. But I can't keep everyone waiting for too long. I hope everyone liked it. With the whole arguing bit I had them use subtext with Edna's story. I didn't know if that was a good idea or not but I stuck with it in the end. Thanks guys, I'll be sure to get more up when I can. **


End file.
